Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

So I've the opportunity to purchase a 96 4004JG for just over $1k. Tonally what are some of the things I should expect from a bass 13 years newer than my current one?

I believe by '96 RIC was using the current higain winding for the pickup coils so they should be a bit deeper and a bit more indistinct. Of course this is my opinion and subject to correction if the higher windings were not in use in '96.

No matter what, that is one excellent price (given there are no real issues with the bass) and you should get it anyway.

johnallg wrote:.....and you should get it anyway.

No RAS feeding here!

Oh come on! Get all of 'em that strike your fancy. Worry about affording them later... That's what I do...

johnallg wrote:I believe.... and you should get it anyway.

This ^^^

The 4003 I gig with all the time is a '97 and it has the very snappy growly tone that I love from the 90's Rics.

Prowl wrote:So I've the opportunity to purchase a 96 4004JG for just over $1k.

Are we talking about comparing 2 4003's or a 4003 and a 4004L here?

John has nailed it. More low end with a bit less high end.I have a '98 4003 and '82 4001S, so roughly the same two periods.

I added a variant of the "tone capacitor" (.0047 uF) into the circuit like the 4001S has, as that was the sound I was used to. I really like the sound from it now due to the stronger low end. The only downside is that the infamous dead spot is worst on the '98 4003 - but it sure is perty.

cheyenne wrote:

Prowl wrote:So I've the opportunity to purchase a 96 4004JG for just over $1k.

Are we talking about comparing 2 4003's or a 4003 and a 4004L here?

ah yes a pair of 4003 basses not a 4004. Sorry I hadn't slept when i posted this.

rickboy88 wrote:John has nailed it. More low end with a bit less high end.I have a '98 4003 and '82 4001S, so roughly the same two periods.

I added a variant of the "tone capacitor" (.0047 uF) into the circuit like the 4001S has, as that was the sound I was used to. I really like the sound from it now due to the stronger low end. The only downside is that the infamous dead spot is worst on the '98 4003 - but it sure is perty.

I'm unfamiliar with this "dead-spot" you're referring to. Can you explain a little? I may actually know what it is but never really noticed it before. I've been playing my 83 for about 14 years now

One difference I notice between my 90's Ricks and my earlier Ricks (that often gets overlooked) is the value of the tone pots. Sometime in the early 90's RIC switched from using 500K ohm tone pots to 250K ohm pots.

The result is that other things being equal the 90's 4003 will have a less harmonically rich high end.

There were of course other changes made between 1983 and 1996 for the 4003 (pickups, bass-cut capacitor, truss rods), but I notice those pots. I noticed the diff between my 1992 4001V63 (500K ohm) and my 1998 4001V63 (250K ohm), and I notice the diff between my 1987 4003S (500K ohm) and my 1994 4003S (250K ohm).

Prowl wrote:I'm unfamiliar with this "dead-spot" you're referring to.

9th and/or 10th fret on the D string. It manifests itself in a relative lack of sustain.

Potential solutions include reducing headstock mass with alternate tuners, tweaking the truss rods to a sweet spot to move the resonance frequency to a spot between frets, or only playing on odd Thursdays in a decompression chamber.

Yep, 9th fret usually. My Jaguar (with a Jazz neck) seems to have it the worst.

In addition to hearing a drop in sustain, you can also feel a sympathetic vibration from the E string when at the deadspot by carefully touching your second finger to it while holding down the D string at the 9th fret with your ring finger and plucking the D string. Move up and down one fret on the D string, and you won't feel the E string vibrate.

Fenders have their own sort of dead-spot issues. I was dealing with the 4003. But yeah, it also happens...

so should I notice an increase in pickup output or a decrease? would the 96 be warmer sounding or thinner?

Prowl wrote:so should I notice an increase in pickup output or a decrease? would the 96 be warmer sounding or thinner?

If your '83 is stock it will have a bass-cut capacitor in the circuit. The '96 should be more loud, more full, and probably more growly, and will probably have less of a harmonically rich high end than the '83.